Back on the road again

Few would have foreseen that Boeing would end up having its lunch eaten by Airbus

Despite all the wailing and gnashing of teeth about the pressure on consumers’ disposable income, CMH’s results suggest that while there may have been some rummaging around down the back of sofas to find a missing coin or two, it didn’t stop the person in the street from popping out to upgrade the wheels.

CMH has bounced back from a tough period early in the pandemic with a cracking set of results, with new vehicle unit sales up 25% contributing to record headline earnings.

This was achieved despite all the headwinds of new waves of Covid, the civil unrest in July, interest rates and fuel prices flying, constant load-shedding and the floods in KwaZulu-Natal.

These left a dealership literally under water, closed the Toyota factory for an estimated 12 weeks and plunged Durban port into fairto-middling chaos.

The motor industry as a whole has been suffering from severe supply chain issues, with a shortage of chips causing endless delays in new car supply and even driving the price of low-mileage used vehicles higher than that of a new car — simply because you can get your hands on it without having to wait a year.

CMH saw improved margins in both new and used vehicles due to limited supply, and it has pursued multifranchising wherever possible, spreading costs by adding 22 operations into its existing operations without adding extra branches.

Its car hire business has picked up market share, and is expected to gain from business and leisure travel returning to normal levels.